Articles about Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Accessibility options are not a new feature for Windows, but the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update includes even more than before. This week it was confirmed that the update will launch on 2 August, just days after the free upgrade period ends (although it's worth noting that people with accessibility needs will still qualify for a free upgrade after this date).

If you've been testing out the insider builds of Windows 10, you may well have noticed accessibility improvements, but now it is only a matter of weeks before they are made available to everyone. In a blog post rounding up what's been added over the last year, Microsoft also reveals the latest additions.

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June and July are big months for Windows 10 upgrades as this should be when users who have yet to switch to the new OS scramble to do so before the free offer comes to an end on July 29.

The last minute rush, combined with Microsoft’s aggressive push -- including, of course, tricking unwitting users into upgrading -- should have made June a particularly bumper month for Windows 10 growth, but actually it dropped off a little compared with May.

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When Microsoft first announced that Windows 10 would be free, it rather mangled the message by adding "for the first year" to the end of the statement. That immediately suggested that the operating system would be headed for a subscription model, just like Office 365. The software giant eventually clarified the situation, but the fear that one day Microsoft would start charging a yearly fee for its OS never quite went away in some people’s minds.

And now it looks as if those fears are set to be reignited, as a file found in the latest Windows Insider preview, Build 14376, hints that Windows 10 subscriptions are going to be a real thing.

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Just under two months ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 was on 300 million devices. That’s a sizeable number, achieved in around nine months.

Today, in officially announcing the launch date of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft says the number of devices running the OS has jumped to over 350 million.

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Yesterday, Microsoft accidentally leaked the news that the eagerly awaited Windows 10 Anniversary Update is now set to arrive on August 2, and today the software giant confirms the news, along with details of what to expect from the update.

If you’re a Windows Insider, or have been following news of the various Insider Preview builds, you’ll know there’s a lot of new features and improvements in the update.

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The much awaited Windows 10 Anniversary Update might not now be arriving until the start of August, but the Windows Insider previews continue to roll out at an impressive pace.

Today, Microsoft releases Build 14376 for both PC and Mobile to the Fast ring, and also pushes out Build 14372 to the Slow ring. Build 14376 contains over 1,800 fixes compared to the previous build released last week, which is quite some going.

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Microsoft’s big Windows 10 Anniversary Update introduces a ton of new features and improvements to the new operating system, including a revamped Start menu, support for extensions in Edge, Windows Ink, and more.

Windows Insiders have been testing these new features for a while, and it’s looking very much as if the Anniversary Update will be a great improvement. The big update was set to be released on July 29, the same day as the free upgrade offer ended, but according to an accidental release from Microsoft, it seems as if the software giant is going to miss that window.

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Microsoft has used every trick in the book to get Windows 7 and 8.1 users to upgrade to Windows 10. From making the new operating system free, and introducing an app to simplify the upgrade process, to fooling users into requesting an upgrade even if they really don’t want it.

The latest approach has been to change the behavior of the red corner X in the Get Windows 10 popup. People who clicked the button to close the message assumed they’d rejected the new OS, but had in fact sanctioned the upgrade. Microsoft even went so far as to remove the X in some cases, so people couldn’t even close the popup without agreeing to install the upgrade either immediately, or at a time arranged by Microsoft.

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Windows 10 Insider Preview builds are coming thick and fast now in preparation for the Anniversary Update on 29 July.

We had a new build on Tuesday (Build 14371), and today Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar has pushed the button on another new release -- Build 14372 for PC and Mobile. That’s just one build newer, but includes fixes designed to improve overall performance and reliability. But that’s not all.

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Microsoft is rolling out new Windows 10 Insider builds on a very regular basis in preparation for the big Anniversary Update at the end of July. Last week we had not one, but two new PC builds gracing the Fast ring, and today we get yet another -- Build 14371.

As you might expect there are lots of improvements and bug fixes in this new build, but there are also some new additions too.

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With the planned release date for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update drawing ever nearer, Microsoft is hard at work squashing as many bugs as it can. Naturally, this means new builds released to Windows Insiders won’t offer any significant new features, but they will contain important fixes, general improvements and welcome performance boosts.

Yesterday, Microsoft released Build 14367 to the Fast ring, and today it follows that up by releasing that build's predecessor, 14366, to the Slow ring. It must be pretty stable as it only arrived on the Fast ring on Tuesday.

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Yesterday, something went horribly wrong with my PC leaving me with no option but to use the Windows 10 Reset option to wipe all my programs and start over. It was the first time I’d had to use it, and things went smoothly enough, even if it took forever to get everything setup again afterwards.

The ability to Reset Windows 10 -- re-installing the OS while keeping, or removing your personal files -- is a great idea (although admittedly not as good as being able to install Windows over the top of itself as you could with XP), and now Microsoft is spinning it off into a standalone tool.

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The advent of app stores has meant that software installation is very hands-off process these days. Select the app you want, hit install, and everything is taken care of for you. On one hand, this is great as it simplifies and accelerates things, but it also removes an element of control from the user.

With an update to the Windows Store app in Windows 10, Microsoft is changing this. Building on the ability to move apps from one drive to another, Windows 10 Anniversary Edition will now ask where you would like to install larger apps -- a real boon for people with more than one hard drive.

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With the planned release date for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update drawing ever nearer, Microsoft is hard at work squashing as many bugs as it can.

Naturally, this means new builds released to Windows Insiders won’t offer any significant new features, but they will contain important fixes, general improvements and welcome performance boosts.

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Windows 10 updates may add new features, beef up security, and refine the user experience, but they can also be a source of frustration if the operating system decides to automatically install them at the wrong moment. There are times when you really want to keep using your PC, and not let Windows 10 restart it to finish the job. Just ask this pro gamer who had a Twitch stream ruined right in the middle of a gaming session watched by 130,000 followers.

So what can you do? You may be tempted to disable automatic updates or Windows Update altogether, but that is obviously not ideal. However, you can control when Windows 10 can automatically install updates. Here is how you can configure it.

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